MEG Energy's board recommends shareholders to reject Strathcona offer
June 16 (Reuters) - Oil and gas producer MEG Energy (MEG.TO), opens new tab on Monday advised its shareholders to reject a takeover offer from Strathcona Resources (SCR.TO), opens new tab, calling it inadequate and not in the best interest of investors.
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The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
Leonard Lauder, philanthropist who globalized family cosmetic business, dies at age 92
Leonard Lauder, a renowned philanthropist who expanded the family cosmetics business into a worldwide empire, has died at the age of 92. Estee Lauders Cos. announced the news in a release on Sunday and said he died on Saturday surrounded by family. Lauder, the oldest son of Estee and Joseph H. Lauder, who founded the company in 1946, formally joined the New York business in 1958. Over more than six decades, Lauder played a key role in transforming the business from a handful of products sold under a single brand in U.S. stores to a multi-brand global giant. He had held the title of chairman emeritus at the time of his death. Estee Lauder's products are sold in roughly 150 countries and territories under brand names including Clinique and Aveda, according to the company's latest annual report. The company generated sales of nearly $16 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, the filing said. Estee Lauder went public in 1995, but members of Lauder family still have about 84% of the voting power of common stock, according to the latest annual filing. Lauder served as president of The Estée Lauder Cos. from 1972 to 1995 and as CEO from 1982 through 1999. He was named chairman in 1995 and served in that role through June 2009. Under his stewardship, Lauder created the company's first research and development laboratory, brought in professional management at every level, and was the impetus behind The Estée Lauder Cos.' international expansion, helping to spearhead the company's sales and profits exponentially, according to the company. Lauder led the launch of many brands including Aramis, Clinique, and Lab Series, among others. Until his death, he remained deeply involved in the company's acquisition strategy, including the acquisitions of such brands as Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone London and MAC, the company said. During his years as chairman emeritus, Lauder was closely involved in the business and day-to-day operations and was a constant fixture at its global headquarters in New York and at its stores around the world until the time of his death, the company said. 'Throughout his life, my father worked tirelessly to build and transform the beauty industry, pioneering many of the innovations, trends, and best practices that are foundational to the industry today,' said William P. Lauder, son and chair of the board at The Estée Lauder Companies in a statement. 'He was the most charitable man I have ever known, believing that art and education belonged to everyone, and championing the fight against diseases such as Alzheimer's and breast cancer. ' Lauder was a longtime patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, in 2013, pledged his 78-piece collection of Cubist art to the museum in the largest single philanthropic gift in the museum's history. He later added five major works to that pledged gift, the company said. In concert with his Cubist collection donation, he helped establish the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at the Met to support a program of fellowships, focused exhibitions, and public lectures. He also was the Whitney Museum of American Art's chairman emeritus and a trustee from 1977 to 2011. Lauder was married to Evelyn H. Lauder, who had been the senior corporate vice president at the cosmetic company and the founder of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, from 1959 until she passed away in 2011. On Jan. 1, 2015, Lauder married Judy Glickman Lauder, a philanthropist and internationally recognized photographer. Lauder was born in 1933 in New York City. He was a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and the Officer Candidate School of the United States Navy. Lauder studied at Columbia University's graduate school of business. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and as a Navy reservist, for which the U.S. Navy Supply Corps Foundation later recognized him with its Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition to his wife and son William, Lauder is survived by his other son Gary M. Lauder and wife, Laura Lauder; five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, many stepchildren and step grandchildren, as well as his brother, Ronald S. Lauder, and wife, Jo Carole Lauder, and their daughters, Aerin Lauder and Jane Lauder.
The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Lobbyist claims that New York anti-plastic bill would harm people of color called ‘misleading'
The oil and petrochemical lobby is attempting to fend off a New York state proposal to slash plastic waste by arguing that it will disproportionately burden people of color, advocates and assembly sources say, despite widespread evidence that the plastic supply chain poses serious health risks to Black and brown communities. In New York state, advocates are fighting to pass a wide-ranging bill to reduce plastic packaging by 30% in 12 years while dramatically boosting recycling rates and phasing certain toxic compounds out of packaging. The packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure bill would place a fee on large businesses that distribute plastic packaging, with revenue benefiting taxpayers – a scheme called extended producer responsibility. The proposal, which must be taken up this week in order to pass, passed the senate last month for the second year in a row, with backing from nearly every Democrat. But it is facing staunch opposition from some business interests and the American Chemistry Council, a lobbying group representing big oil companies and chemical manufacturers such as DuPont. Efforts to push back on the bill have reportedly cost more than $2m. In recent weeks, advocates and assembly staff told the Guardian, lobbyists have focused on the assembly's influential Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian American legislative caucus, arguing that the proposed legislation will raise food prices, thereby harming communities of color who are more likely to rely on food assistance programs. The efforts to kill the plastic legislation are 'plainly racist', said state assembly member Claire Valdez, who represents part of Queens in New York City and backs the original bill. 'These companies just want to be able to continue pushing their product on exploited and under-resourced communities without consequence,' she told the Guardian. The tactic, first covered by the Albany Times-Union, has prompted ire from bill advocates. In a letter to the state assembly in support of the bill, New York religious leaders said this 'corporate narrative' is 'not only false; it is also deeply insulting'. 'It is an immoral and manipulative tactic for these corporate interests to use communities of color as pawns to preserve their bottom lines,' the letter says. 'By focusing their efforts on lobbying the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian American Legislative Caucus, they are attempting to create division and fear where none should exist.' Another letter, sent jointly by the NAACP New York State Conference and Consumer Reports, said: 'We are aware that representatives of the petrochemical and packaging industries have been meeting with members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus in an attempt to discredit this bill and promote a weaker alternative. They claim that this legislation will raise prices for everyday New Yorkers. These claims are misleading and lack data to support them.' Garbage incinerators, on which the bill attempts to reduce reliance by boosting recycling, are often located in communities of color, where they emit toxic pollutants supporters of the legislation say. And plastic production, which also creates dangerous air emissions, also disproportionately harms the health of Black and brown Americans. Reached for comment, Freeman Klopott, spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council in New York, said the proposed legislation 'is not the answer to New York's waste problem'. 'ACC has joined a broad coalition that have worked closely with many legislators on both sides of the aisle to highlight more effective, equitable ways to reduce packaging waste,' Klopott said. The ACC did not respond to questions about lobbyists targeting lawmakers who are people of color in efforts to oppose the bill. Business interest groups opposing the bill have denied that any intentions they have are racially motivated. Industry interests point to a York University study which found the original bill would raise prices by over $700 per household annually. But bill advocates note that report was produced by a group that is funded by the plastic lobby. They say there is no credible evidence that the policy would increase consumer prices. One 2022 report from Columbia University found that such programs result in only very small price increases, while a 2020 report funded by Oregon's environment department found that extended producer responsibility bills did not raise prices in Canadian provinces. In recent weeks, a handful of New York Democratic lawmakers, most of whom are members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian legislative caucus, have thrown their support behind a competing, weaker bill, which is supported by business interests. It, too, would create an extended producer responsibility program, but forgo some of the more progressive elements of the original legislation such as the ratcheting down of plastic that businesses can use and the mandates placed on recycled content levels. Petrochemical interests have previously argued that plastic reduction efforts would harm people of color and poor communities. A lobbying group representing plastic bag manufacturers in 2014 funded New York's Black Leadership Action Coalition, whose founder argued that those backing a fee on plastic bags had 'BEEN HAD' and 'BEEN HOODWINKED.' As Minnesota environmentalists worked last year to overturn a policy preventing municipalities from banning plastic bags, some trade groups argued the repeal would place a burden on low-income communities of color, advocates told the Guardian. And last year, the International Council of Chemical Associations commissioned a report that said production caps would require disproportionately harm low-income people by raising product prices. But at a press conference in Albany this month, advocates for the original plastic reduction bill said that passing the policy would benefit Black and brown Americans by helping to tamp down on toxic petrochemical processing. 'How many more of us have to die because of these polluters,' asked Sharon Lavigne, founder of the Louisiana grassroots organization Rise St James. 'They're sacrificing us to make a profit.' Sarahana Shrestha, an assemblymember representing a south-eastern New York district, who supports the original legislation, said the industry's 'fear tactic' is working on some lawmakers who may be less familiar with the legislation. 'Lawmakers are always scared that a policy could have unforeseen consequences for their constituents,' she said, adding that the opposition's strategy has focused on stopping the bill from being put up for a vote. New York's assembly has until Tuesday to vote on the proposed bills, which if passed would head to the governor's desk for final approval.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
This airline was named No.1 in North America in the ‘Oscars of Aviation' ... and Donald Trump isn't going to like it
Donald Trump may not like hearing this, but Air Canada has been rated the best airline in North America for 2025. That's according to the Skytrax World Airline Awards — known as the 'Oscars of Aviation' — which has placed what Trump might call the '51st state's' namesake carrier in first place in its North America ranking, ahead of Delta Air Lines in second and Porter Airlines in third. The rest of the top five rounds out with United Airlines (fourth) and JetBlue (fifth). Air Canada has also had success in the World's Best Business Class Airline Lounge for Dining category, with the Toronto Pearson Signature Suite claiming gold. And Canada triumphs in the Best Leisure Airlines category, with Montreal-based Air Transat coming top for the third consecutive year, ahead of the UK's Tui Airways (second) and Turkey-based SunExpress (third). "Receiving this award for the seventh time and third year in a row is an honour for everyone at Air Transat," said Pamela Lloyd-Bergeron, Air Transat Director In-Flight Service. "It reflects our dedication to delivering excellent service and memorable journeys for our passengers." Globally, however, North America fares badly, with Air Canada only managing 19th in the global ranking, which is topped by Qatar Airways for the ninth time. The rest of the global top five comprises Singapore Airlines (second), Cathay Pacific (third), Emirates (fourth) and ANA All Nippon Airways (fifth). Turkish Airlines is named the Best Airline in Europe, as well as winning the award for World's Best Business Class Onboard Catering. Qatar Airways also wins the Best Business Class category, with Singapore Airlines claiming the top podium spot for the First Class ranking. Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said: "We welcomed back a large number of previous winners and were also delighted to see new faces and airlines represented here today. North America's top 10 airlines for 2025 Air Canada Delta Air Lines Porter Airlines United Airlines JetBlue Airways Alaska Airlines Air Transat Breeze Airways WestJet Allegiant Air The world's top 20 airlines for 2025 Qatar Airways Singapore Airlines Cathay Pacific Emirates ANA All Nippon Airways Turkish Airlines Korean Air Air France Japan Airlines Hainan Airlines Swiss Int'l Air Lines EVA Air British Airways Qantas Airways Lufthansa Virgin Atlantic Saudi Arabian Airlines STARLUX Airlines Air Canada Iberia As is indicated by so many former winning airlines being awarded again, quality consistency is clearly well recognised by customers when they vote for these airlines." The awards were given out at a gala ceremony held today at the Paris Air Show, with the results produced by a global customer satisfaction study.
